The invention is directed to a new apparatus and design and/or configuration, and related methods for holding, transporting, storing, stacking, and using various things. Containers such as plastic injection-molded buckets, pails, or the like come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. In many applications and methods, the container and/or bucket/pail can be used with a cover or other sealing device to help contain material within the container. Commonly these containers have covers or lids that, along with other aspects of the container/lid combinations, allow the containers to be nested or stacked, such as on a pallet.
Most such containers provide a single main storage compartment. Some plastic bottles (such as for milk, juice, or the like) have “flow-through” handles, which allow the fluid to be stored and flow within the handle (but not to be “segregated” there within the handle, away from the thing (the liquid) stored in the main storage area of the bottle/container).
Certain containers exist with separate “compartments” sealed from each other. Examples include TV dinners or their equivalent, tool or parts containers with separate “pockets” in which different screws or bolts or tools are stored, etc. These typically have one or more shortcomings that limit their usefulness. For example, and among other things, many such containers do not have a handle that functions as a storage compartment, and do not have the ability to provide a seal over or between the various compartments, or permit separate/discrete access through the lid to the various compartments, providing some resealability after the container has initially been opened. Although plastic bottles exist with two separate compartments sealed by a single screw-on lid, those containers are limited in their use, handling, and other functions (for example, the relatively small neck and screw-on lid limit the size and nature of things that might be conveniently packaged within the container).